Shape fills such as
solid colors,
gradients,
pictures,
and textures can have a transparency attribute that
lets you reduce the opacity of a fill so that the slide object or background behind shows through. Transparency is calculated in percentages and you
can change its value all the way from 0 to 100%. Some fill options, such as
pattern and
slide background have no transparency
options. Look at Figure 1 below, and you will see the original shapes on the left with their semi-transparent counterparts on the
right -- we intentionally placed all these shapes on a patterned background so that you can see the pattern through the semi-transparent shapes on the
right.

Figure 1: Original shapes with various fills and their semi-transparent counterparts

To set a transparency value for your shape in PowerPoint 2016, follow these steps:

Select the shape that has a solid color, gradient, pictures or
texture fill. Right-click the shape to bring up the contextual menu that you can see in Figure 2. Within this menu, choose the
Format Shape option.

Figure 2: Format Shape option selected

This brings up the Format ShapeTask Pane that you
see in Figure 3 -- options may differ depending upon the original fill of your selected shape -- in this instance, our shape had a
solid fill. You drag the Transparency slider, highlighted in red with Figure 3 to change
the transparency value.

Figure 3: Set transparency for solid fill

Tip: You can even use the up or down-arrows towards the right (highlighted in blue within
Figure 3, above) to increase or decrease the transparency -- also you can directly type in the transparency value within the box
placed next to Transparency slider.

The Transparency slider for Picture or texture fill is similarly highlighted in red
within Figure 4, below.

Gradient fills work a little differently as far as
transparency is concerned -- you need to adjust the transparency value of every single color stop comprised within the
gradient fill you choose. To do that, select each stop of your
gradient individually, and change its transparency, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 5,
below.

Have your ever used keyboard shortcuts and sequences in PowerPoint? Or are you a complete keyboard aficionado?
Do you want to learn about some new shortcuts? Or do you want to know if your favorite keyboard shortcuts are documented?